I don’t discount my products or offer sales

September 6, 2016

A discount or a sale is an excellent way to market your work. And it works ah-mazingly well. But I choose to not regularly discount my products and services. If sales and discounts work so well, then why don’t I do them?

Offering a discount makes past customers feel dumb for not waiting

I hate shopping. I still do like going to the mall or browsing online to see new things and get new things. But I passionately dislike the mental process.

A sales shopper enters a store with blinders on, and heads directly for the sales section. I’ll be honest, when it comes to clothes shopping, I am a sales shopper. Once, I found the perfect, lightweight, striped summer dress. And it was on sale! SCORE! Only to find out that a week later, it went on sale at an even deeper discount. Ya, I thought I was being smart by shopping sale, and now I feel dumb.

The same goes for buying just about anything. If you buy something at regular price, only to find out that there was a sale the day after you bought.. you would feel dumb for buying early. Why didn’t you just wait? And from experience, I know that if you are buying early from me, that is because you are my tribe. You are my friend, my Internet fam, my #1 supporter. I don’t want you to feel dumb. I want to thank you for supporting me!

So to avoid the process altogether, I just don’t offer any weekend flash sales, or anything of the sort. Lots of greeting cards are seasonal, but I try to avoid trends so that the cards stay relevant. A mother’s day card that I create in 2016 is just as meaningful in 2025. The only reason I can see myself doing a big sale is if I’m moving and need to move stock fast. So, not anytime soon.

Sales undervalue my services and products

I value my purchases at the price at which I’ve paid for them. If the original price is $250, and I bought it at $100, I value that thing at $100. I don’t even look at the original price.. who cares how much I saved, I want to know how much I spent! So I price my service and products at the right price so I don’t need to discount them.

Be so good that they can’t ignore you. – Cal Newport

The only way to keep up this thinking is to increase the value of my work. So even when the price stays the same, the value of my products and services increase over time. I invest in my work, and I am constantly learning how to be a better artist, a better entrepreneur, and a better person. I am by no means perfect, but I am willing to learn, grow, and be so good at what I do that you can’t ignore me.

Instead, I reward loyalty by offering coupons to email subscribers and past customers.

Free shipping on your first order for email subscribers. So easy, sign up here!

15% off coupon for posting your purchase on Instagram, and tagging me. I say Instagram, but if you post it on any social media and flag me, I’ll send you a coupon code. Just make sure your account is public!

If I add any other deals in the future, they will look very much the same. I want to reward you for following me, for buying from me, and for supporting me. I don’t discount my products, because they are already priced at the right price. The amount of work that goes into each design, the materials used to create, pack and deliver, and the mission that you are supporting.. I’m not artificially inflating my prices, so I don’t need to artificially discount.

So thank you so much for supporting Simply Steph Ko! I hope that I am able to spark some joy and inspire you to share love and encouragement with your loved ones.

xo,

P.S. here are some awesome resources to check out on the topic:

“I don’t want to discount my products because it’s a slap in the face to my loyal buyers—the people who buy from me early.” – Sean McCabe, seanwes

“I don’t believe in sales, but I do believe in nurturing the people who are there for you.” – Kathleen and Emily, Being Boss